


Graveyard Shift

by CatherineMorgenstern



Series: Companion Pieces to the Master & Commander series [1]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Blackwatch, F/M, Fighting with a cranky Gabe, Gabe confiding in you after some prodding, Gabe's your boyfriend, Genji is only mentioned, He's very stressed, Late at Night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2019-04-14 02:59:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14126637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatherineMorgenstern/pseuds/CatherineMorgenstern
Summary: Gabriel is stressed out and after lashing out at you, you talk him into confiding in you.





	Graveyard Shift

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MonticolaSolitarius](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MonticolaSolitarius/gifts).



> Birthday present for the lovely [MonticolaSolitarius](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MonticolaSolitarius/pseuds/MonticolaSolitarius). I totally lied my butt off last week when I told you I wanted to know your favourite Gabe scenario for brainstorming reasons only. I hope it’s to your liking and that it at least puts a smile on your face on your special day. As I told you before, I wouldn’t want your restless ghost haunting my arse, seeking your perfect Gabe piece ;) Happy Birthday, lovely!
> 
> A massive thanks to [alexiela73](https://alexiela73.tumblr.com/), over on Tumblr who supplied me with additional reasons for why Gabe might be stressed and gave me the perfect reason for him breaking down. I can’t thank you enough, love!
> 
> And, as always, a huge thank you to my brilliant beta, [Heeley](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heeley/pseuds/Heeley). Couldn’t do this without you, love!

It was nearing midnight and you were on your way out. The halls of the base were nearly deserted and even the lighting was dimmed down. It always struck you as odd that the usually brightly lit, stark interior looked almost cozy during the night. You’d lost track of time while you’d been chatting with Genji, having only intended to check up on your friend. As you walked past Commander Reyes’ office – whom you were now allowed to officially call your boyfriend, you reminded yourself giddily – you noticed that the light was still on. In a spur of the moment decision, you stopped and knocked on his door.

“Come in.”

You opened the door and stopped on the threshold, leaning against the doorframe while shooting him a questioning look. Absentmindedly, you noted that the office smelled like him. The man in question was seated behind his desk, ruffling through what looked like a mountain of paperwork. A mug of coffee sat next to him, which you guessed had gone cold; he tended to forget about drinking his coffee when he was battling administrative work he couldn’t get out of.

Gabriel didn’t even glance up at you, just grumbled, “What is it?”

“What are you still doing here?”

At that he did look up to you with an expression that conveyed wordlessly how stupid he thought you were being right now.

Making a sweeping gesture at the paperwork on his desk, he said, “Work.”

The ‘obviously’ was strongly implied by his tone alone.

You cocked your head, wordlessly asking him to elaborate.

Gabriel’s lips twitched, settling into the barest hint of a snarl before he said through clenched teeth, “ _ I work the graveyard shift _ .”

“I can see that,” you sighed. 

“Then why did you ask? Or are you just in the habit of asking superfluous questions to annoy me?”

“Yes, that’s it. You caught me ,” you responded dryly.

“Be gone, please.”

“It’s late.”

“And once again, she is stating the obvious,” he remarked bitingly.

“Wow, you’re cranky.”

“I am not cranky.”

“Uh-huh,” you replied disbelievingly.

The look he shot you was such a dark one it wiped the teasing smile right off your face.

Holding your hands up in surrender, you said, “All I’m saying is that you look exhausted and might want to consider calling it a night.”

“Thank you, Agent,” he said, emphasising your rank, “for that sage advice. Whatever would I do without you? Trust me when I say that I’m perfectly capable of making decisions all by myself.”

“Gabriel –“

“Out!” he barked.

You jumped at his sudden outburst and stared at him wide-eyed, having been taken completely by surprise. He’d never yelled at you like this outside of a battlefield. Shock was soon replaced by white-hot anger.

Who did he think he was? 

“Well, excuse me for giving a shit about you!”

“I never asked you to!”

“It’s kinda implied in this whole girlfriend/boyfriend thing we got going! Why are you angry with me?”

“Because, once again, you’re butting in. News flash, Agent, not everything concerns you!”

“Stop calling me ‘Agent’! I was just –“

“You were just passing judgement because that’s what you do!” he roared, standing up and hitting the desk with his hands.

“You’re a jerk, you know that?” you screamed back, frowning and putting your hands on your hips.

“If I’m such a jerk, why don’t you leave me the fuck alone?!”

“Excuse me for caring! Won’t happen again!”

“Good! Now get out!”

“FINE!” you yelled, turned on your heel and slammed his office door with so much force that the a rattling noise echoed through the hallway when it hit the frame.

Stopping just outside, you tried to calm down. You were breathing heavily, your nostrils were flaring, your pulse was racing and your nails were biting into your palms from having balled your hands into fists. Forcing yourself to relax, you pinched your nose and took some deep breaths. Just as you were considering whether it would be a good idea to go back in or give the both of you a chance to cool off until tomorrow, you heard the door open behind you just before light spilled out, throwing your shadow out in front of you.

Turning only your head, you spied Gabriel leaning against the doorframe; just like you had earlier with a dejected expression on his face. 

“I’m sorry, gatita,” he said softly, dragging his hand over his goatee. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”

“No, you shouldn’t have,” you replied accusingly as you turned around to face him, crossing your arms over your chest.

“Forgive me?”

You pursed your lips and shifted slightly before saying, “Let me go on that mission with Genji next week and we’ll call it even.”

For a second, he looked as though he was going to argue with you before he sighed. “Done.”

“Okay then. Wanna talk about what’s gotten you so riled up?” you asked. “Aside from my person?”

“It’s not you that got me riled up, mi amor,” he said with a sigh as he walked back into his office.

Tentatively, you followed him, stopping just inside. “It’s not? Well, I’m glad to hear it.”

“You can come in, you know?” he pointed out as he came to stand behind his desk, sorting papers.

“I feel safer staying close to the exit for now.”

“Querida –“

“I’m kidding,” you said, stepping inside and closing the door behind you. “So?”

“So what?”

“Why are you so tense? I mean, tenser than usual?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Gabe,” you said pointedly. “If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine but don’t pretend everything’s alright. It’s clearly not.”

With a heavy sigh, he let himself fall into his chair and put his head in his hands.

His behaviour concerned you, so you walked over to him and put your hand on his shoulder while leaning against the desk next to him with your hip.

“Hey,” you said softly, “tell me what’s –“

Before you knew what was happening, he’d shifted and wrapped his arms around your waist and burrowed his face against your stomach. You were frozen in astonishment for a second before you started rubbing his back while making shushing noises.

“Gabe …”

He muttered something but it was muffled by your shirt and when you tried to disentangle yourself from him far enough to make out what he was saying, he tightened his hold on you. So you resumed rubbing his back soothingly and slid off his beanie to start carding your fingers through his mob of hair. You couldn’t suppress a small smile, thinking you’d never seen him with anything but a buzz cut and then frowned at the implication that he’d been too busy or too distracted to even cut his hair.

“Okay,” you said in a low voice, “I really need you to tell me what’s going on because I’ve never seen you like this and I gotta admit that you’re starting to freak me out.”

He laughed and let go of you, leaning back in his chair. “I’m sorry for freaking you out, hermosa.”

“You know you can tell me, right? Whatever’s wrong, I mean.”

“Actually, I cannot. You don’t have security clearance,” he explained with a strained smile.

“You can allude, you can paraphrase, I could swear on my life to never breathe a word about whatever you tell me, I could –“

“Cariño –“

“You shouldn’t have to shoulder everything alone. That system’s clearly not working.”

“It’s been working for decades.”

“Hence why you yelled at me for no reason before having a mini-meltdown.”

“I did not have a mini-meltdown,” he grumbled.

“Could’ve fooled me.”

He sighed and pinched his nose. “I may or may not be a little stressed.”

“No!” you exclaimed theatrically. “You don’t say!”

“If you’re just going to mock me –“

“No, I’m sorry. Please continue,” you said placatingly. “Is it budget cuts?”

“Budget cuts, fighting more and more with Jack, Jesse and Genji  making me look like an incompetent fool by disregarding direct orders, dealing with UN pencil pushers who complain about how Blackwatch operates …” he trailed off before a hard glint appeared in his eyes. “How I manage Blackwatch operations.”

You scoffed at the last bit. “What do they know? None of them have ever been on the frontlines, nor are any of them half as experienced as you are.”

He smirked. “I appreciate you taking my side.”

“Of course I am! Are they making budget cuts to punish you for not complying with how they think Blackwatch should be operated?”

“What makes you think I’m not complying?”

“Call it a hunch,” you responded dryly, raising an eyebrow at him that dared him to contradict your statement.

Gabriel crossed his arms behind his head. “Well, let’s phrase it this way: you seem to have excellent deductive skills.”

“Oh, Commander,” you said teasingly, “flattery will get you everywhere.”

He huffed out a laugh.

“You know that none of that is your fault, right?”

“Isn’t it?” he replied sardonically.

“Of course not! Those idiots at the UN always seem to think they know better and while their way might make sense for Overwatch operations, Blackwatch is different. We’re covert ops. That’s the whole point. You can’t be successful at subterfuge and espionage if you do everything by the books. There is a reason this division was installed after the Omnic Crisis –“

“Maybe it was just to keep me from making a scene when they appointed Morrison as Strike Commander.”

“Gabe,” you chided, “that is not true!”

“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. The fact is that our views on how things should be handled are more and more at odds and I can’t seem to have a neutral, productive conversation with Jack anymore. It always ends in a fight,” he said, sounding bitter. “I don’t know how we got here.”

“Well,” you said carefully, “you and Strike Commander Morrison have a knack for pushing each other’s buttons and though I don’t know him as well as I know you, I think it’s safe to say that your approach to handling any situation differs greatly, so it doesn’t come as a surprise that you’d be butting heads, does it?”

“I guess not. Maybe Blackwatch – and I – have become obsolete at best and at worst …”

“At worst what?”

“We’ve become a liability.”

“That is ridic–“

“That recruit died on my watch. What is that if not a liability?” he stated, not meeting your eyes.

“Gabe!” you said seriously. “He might’ve died on your watch but it was not your fault!”

“Of course it was! I second-guessed myself and it cost him his life!” he barked before hunching his shoulders.

“Gabriel, baby, look at me. Please,” you pleaded, grabbing his face on either side and running your thumbs up and down his cheekbones. “It was a freak accident –“

“No, it wasn’t!” he said, sounding strained.

You were shaking your head the entire time he was talking. “That is not true. We all risk our lives each time we go out there, you know that better than anyone. Sometimes it’s pure luck who survives and sometimes experience gives you that sliver of extra time in reacting to an order or your surroundings that ends up being the difference between living and dying. That kid was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time – it could’ve been any one of us. It’s tragic but no one was at fault here. You have to believe me, Gabe.”

“That’s not how I see it.”

“I know it’s not. I know you try to shoulder everything and I know you take the responsibility you have for your Blackwatch agents and civilians more than seriously, but you are not seeing clearly on this. I wouldn’t lie to you, you know that. Not even to make you feel better.”

“Geez, thanks,” he responded with a hint of a smile.

“You’re welcome.”

“What would I do without you, mi amor,” he said softly, pulling you into his lap so that you were straddling him.

Snaking your arms around his neck, you leant your forehead against his and said, “Drive yourself insane, probably.”

He hummed before he cupped your neck and pulled your face to his. Pressing his mouth against yours without making any attempt to deepen the kiss, you smiled against his lips, savouring the intimacy as you went practically boneless in his arms.

Gabriel pulled back slightly. His lips were still touching yours when he said, “If you ever tell anyone about this moment of weakness, I’ll have to kill you.”

Laughing, you rubbed your cheek against his affectionately.

“My lips are sealed, Commander,” you whispered before stealing a proper kiss.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you see any mistakes, please let me know so I can fix them!
> 
> Check out my [Master & Commander series](https://archiveofourown.org/series/962622) if you'd like to read more about Gabe and this particular reader.


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